Horse racing should be marketed as a game.... can we start now???

Before the last couple of thousand toss their past performance newspapers and head for the casino and lottery line? It seems that the biggest no-brainer of the 20th century may actually be getting some traction, one decade into the 21st century.

What a swell idea, I wonder if it might have a chance to catch on with the "official" horse racing marketing folks. You know, those people that think telling the prospective new "horseplayer" to "learn to handicap" IS marketing the game of horse racing.

It may be a sport to observers, but for players who actually bet money on the events, it is a game. Whether it is a game within a sport, or a sport within a game is really irrelevant, even though many have debated the issue for years. It is to you, whatever you want it to be. All tastes can be accommodated by horse racing. Especially here in the 21st century.

The sporting folks can gather to take in all of the pageantry and majesty they can handle, either at the tracks Turf Club or at home right on their monitors. The horseplayers can also enjoy horseplay to their hearts content at all of those same locations, plus the local OTB. I'm assuming few sporting folks come down to the OTB, because they are notably short of pageantry. Majesty is also in short supply, except for that guy that thinks he is king of the seats.

But, where horse racing (management) has always been open to all comers, it has long ignored the wants of the player. The last time the "sport" needed to be resusitated from a near death experience, the revival came about through the implementation of Pari-Mutuel wagering. With this, the basic financial support shifted from the observers and fans of the "sport" to the players of the "game".

With this shift, the "Sport of Kings" essentially became the "Game for all". At least for purposes of moving forward with positive growth as a leisure time diversion, participated in by the masses. Sure, it grew and expanded as a "sport", because it was the only "game" in town. Players have abandoned horse racing in the past 20 years as quickly as other games have become available. Even though horse racing still, and has always offered more of what the player wants.

But, the wagonloads of goods that horse racing can deliver, seems to have gotten lost on the road to the market. It may also be, that the goods have never gotten out of the barn.

Player want number one, to be engaged in a game. Number two, to have a reasonable chance of winning while engaging in the game. In modern times, those that have inherited the job of marketing horse racing, might take notice that horse racing has been abandoned by many just because other games deliver want number one. To be engaged in a game. Apparently, casino and lottery players are willing to forego want number two, if they can just play a game.

Hopefully, with the effort of guys like Derek Simon of Twinspires.com, the marketing types can do the simple arithmetic here and conclude that marketing horse racing as a game, is a strategy long overdue. Maybe some focus on this idea will expose to them that horse racing, while always marketing as a sport, has completely missed the opportunity to get players engaged in a game.